Kerfuffle continues to grow

The ninth annual Truffle Kerfuffle was a huge success with more than $2 million being pumped into the community from the more than 5000 people who attended the festival.

About 35kg of truffles were used across the weekend event, with an estimated value of $105,000.

Truffle Kerfuffle president Jeremy Beissel said while it was hard to gauge how many people were at the festival, there were more than 4600 tickets sold across the festival’s various events.

Highlights of the Truffle Kerfuffle included the various satellite events in the Manjimup and Pemberton regions, including cocktail events and truffle hunts.

At the festival grounds, the highlights included cooking demonstrations with special guests including MKR presenter Pete Evans and chefs Poh, Aaron Carr, Paul Iskov, Amy Hamilton and Russell Blaikie.

Evans’ involvement over the weekend included a truffle hunt on Friday, the Enchanted Southern Forests Feast on Friday night, cooking demonstrations throughout Saturday and the Wholesome Winter Brunch on Sunday morning.

“Friday’s dinner was awesome, we had a great turn out, 200 people and five courses,” he said.

“Some of it was experimental but it was very well-received, from what I’ve been told.

“It’s been fantastic, I’ve done cooking demonstrations and now I can’t wait to get in there and eat.”

Mr Beissel said he was ecstatic with how the weekend turned out.

“We’re always a challenging weather event and this was our wettest one yet, but people still came and enjoyed everything we had on offer,” he said. “If anything, it improved the atmosphere because it showed what our region is all about with the rain, mud and the sun.”

Mr Beissel also thanked all the volunteers involved with the running of the event.

“This is such a huge exercise for a small community with a small budget but it’s something we can be very proud of,” he said.

“We can’t do this without local support moving forward, there’s a greater good involved with this event as it helps grow the Southern Forests brand.”